JPH02120527A - Torque transmission coupling - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a handle to grow abnormally heavy at extremely low rotating speed by filling a fluid of which viscosity varies in proportion to height of voltage in the working chamber of the piston of a cylinder, meanwhile, providing a blade body in the working chamber, and providing a controller to control height of voltage. CONSTITUTION:When a steering angle detected with a steering angle detector S1 becomes over the prescribed angle due to operating large steering at low speed running, voltage applied on ER (Electro Rheological) fluid F by a controller 7 becomes lower than the prescribed value. As the result, viscosity of the ER fluid F becomes low, pressure in the ER fluid F generated by action of a blade body becomes low, and the engaging force of a clutch 4 falls. Hereby, torque transmission to rear wheels (RW) becomes small. Consequently even if rotation difference between front wheels (FW) and rear wheels (RW) generates due to inner wheel difference accompanied with turning, the rotation difference is absorbed by slip of a multiple disc clutch 5, hence tight braking phenomenon does not generate, and growing heavy of a handle cannot be generated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a torque transmission joint that is mainly mounted on an automobile and outputs driving force from an engine to an axle side.

(Prior Art) In general, this type of torque transmission joint is as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6O-25202f3, for example.
A hydraulic pump driven by relative rotation between an input shaft and an output shaft, a piston operated by the discharge pressure of the hydraulic pump, and a clutch that connects both shafts by the operation of the piston, the input shaft and The hydraulic pump is operated by relative rotation with the output shaft to turn on the clutch via the piston, thereby transmitting the driving force from the engine transmitted to the input shaft to the output shaft side. are doing.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) By the way, when the above-mentioned torque transmission joint is used as a transfer T for transmitting the driving force from the engine to the rear wheels in a standby four-wheel drive vehicle that is normally front-wheel drive, When a relative rotation difference occurs between the wheels, the hydraulic pump is activated, the clutch is turned on, and driving force is transmitted not only to the front wheels but also to the rear wheels.The characteristics of this transmission joint are as follows. The curve shown by the solid line in Figure 3 is drawn. For example, if you want to obtain sufficient driving force when escaping the stuck, the characteristics of the transmission joint should be set so that the torque transmitted to the rear wheels is high, as shown by the broken line in Figure 3. This is fine, but if the transmission torque is set high in this way, a phenomenon similar to a tight corner braking phenomenon will occur when the clutch is turned on due to the relative rotation difference between the front and rear wheels, for example, when turning at very low speeds. , the handle may become abnormally heavy.

The present invention was developed in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a torque transmission joint that can easily control transmission torque according to various driving conditions.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Accordingly, the present invention provides a cylinder containing a piston inside either the input shaft or the output shaft, and the piston is disposed between the input shaft and the output shaft. A multi-disc clutch is provided which connects the two shafts with the operation of A vane body is provided that rotates with the shaft on the side not provided with the blade body and generates pressure in the fluid in the working chamber to push the piston and engage the clutch, while controlling the magnitude of the electric field applied to the fluid. The invention is characterized in that it is provided with a controller that performs the following operations.

(Function) According to the present invention, the viscosity of the fluid in the working chamber is controlled by the control of the controller, and the characteristics of the transmission torque transmitted from the input shaft to the output shaft can be arbitrarily changed. It is.

(Example) A torque transmission joint according to the present invention will be described below according to an example shown in the drawings.

The embodiment shown in the figure uses the torque transmission joint according to the present invention as a transfer T for transmitting the driving force from the engine to the rear wheels in a standby four-wheel drive vehicle that is normally front-wheel drive. To explain the outline of the four-wheel drive vehicle shown in Fig. 2, a transmission (TM) is connected to an engine (E), and an output gear (TM1) of this transmission (TM) is connected to an engine (E).
), the front differential (FD) ring gear (
FDI).

The ring gear (FDI) meshes with a gear (C3I) provided at one end of the intermediate shaft (C3) via an intermediate gear (G1), and a bevel gear (C3I) provided at the other end of the intermediate shaft (C8). C82) meshes with a bevel gear (G2) provided at one end of the connecting shaft (DS), and the connecting shaft (DS)
The other end is connected to the input shaft (1) of the torque transmission joint (A) according to the present invention via a universal joint (UJ).

In addition, a bevel gear (G3) provided at the tip of the output shaft (2) of the torque transmission joint (A) is connected to the rear wheel (R
It is interposed in the middle of the drive shaft (R8) of the W) and meshes with the IJ songr (RDI) of the differential (RD).

Next, the torque transmission joint (A) will be explained.

The torque transmission joint shown in FIG. 1 basically consists of an input shaft (2) rotatably installed inside a housing (1) via a bearing (21), and an input shaft (2) that is rotatably installed inside a housing (1) via a bearing (21).
1), an output shaft (3) rotatably installed inside the input shaft (2) via a bearing (31) on the same axis as the input shaft (2);
a cylinder (4) which is spline-coupled to the cylinder (2) and whose other end side is supported by the output shaft (3) so that it can rotate freely relative to the output shaft (3); a multi-disc clutch (5) that connects the output shaft (3) and the cylinder (4) by operation of the piston (40), the piston (40) in the cylinder (4);
Inside the working chamber (41) is an ER fluid CELectro Rheolog whose viscosity increases as the voltage increases.
1caI fluid] (F) Filled with fluid Meanwhile, the working chamber (
41), the multi-disc clutch (5) rotates in parallel with the output shaft (3) and pushes the piston (40) into the ER raw fluid F) in the working chamber (41).
A vane body (6) is provided for generating pressure to couple the two.

The blade body (6) shown in the figure is made of a conductive material and has a cylindrical portion (
61) and a pair of vanes (62) extending symmetrically radially outward from one end of the cylindrical portion (61), the cylindrical portion (61) being covered with an insulating material (63). After that, it is fitted and fixed to the outer periphery of the output shaft (3),
The blade part (62) is interposed in the working chamber (41), and a slip ring (64) made of a conductive material is attached to the outer periphery of the free end side of the cylindrical part (61). The blade body (6) is connected to the E through an electric wire (65) connected to the knob ring (64).
The R raw fluid F) is energized.

Further, the multi-disc clutch (5) is arranged so that the cylinder (4)
A plurality of input shaft side clutch plates (51) that engage with notched grooves (42) provided on the inner circumferential surface of the output shaft (3) and a spline groove (31) formed on the outer circumference of the shaft end of the output shaft (3). A plurality of output shaft side clutch plates (52) are arranged alternately.

On the other hand, a controller (7) consisting of a microcomputer is provided for controlling the energizing voltage to the ER raw fluid F), and a steering angle detector (S1) for detecting the steering angle is provided on the input side of the controller (7). ), and a first rotation detector (S2) that detects the rotation speed of the input shaft.
) and a second rotation detection 1 (S3) that detects the rotation speed of the shaft 7) are connected.

Thus, when the steering angle of the steering wheel exceeds a predetermined angle based on the output signals from the steering angle detector (S1) and the first and second rotation detectors (S2) (S3), the controller (7 ) when the voltage applied to the ER raw fluid F) is lower than a predetermined value (and the relative rotational speed between the input shaft (2) and the output shaft (3) becomes larger than the predetermined rotational speed) , i.e. front wheel (FW)
When the relative rotation between the rear wheel (RW) and the rear wheel (RW) becomes larger than a predetermined rotation speed, the voltage applied to the ER source fluid F) is controlled to be higher than a predetermined value.

Next, the action of the torque transmission a (W) having the above configuration will be explained.

First, the rear wheel (FW) and the front wheel (RW), in other words, the input shaft (2) and the output shaft (
3) are rotating at the same speed, there is no relative rotation between the cylinder (4) and the output shaft (3), in other words, the blade body (6).
No pressure is generated in R raw fluid F), and therefore the piston (
40) does not move forward, and the driving force from the engine input to the input shaft (2) is not transmitted to the output shaft (3), so the vehicle is driven by two wheels, with only the front wheels.

Next, when the input shaft (2) and the output shaft (3) rotate relative to each other during running, the blade body (
The blade portion (62) of 6) rotates relative to the cylinder (4), and the blade portion (62) rotates the working chamber (41).
) is stirred, and the stirring causes the ER
A force is generated in the raw fluid F) that pushes the piston (40) in the forward direction, and therefore the piston (40) moves forward,
Since the clutch (4) is engaged, the vehicle becomes a four-wheel drive vehicle in which power is transmitted to the front and rear wheels.

Therefore, when the relative rotation speed between the front wheels (FW) and the rear wheels (RW) increases, for example when driving on a rough road, the detection signals from the first rotation detector (S2) and the second rotation detector (S3) When the relative rotational speed calculated by the controller (7) based on the above becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined rotational speed, the voltage applied to the ER raw fluid F) by the controller (7) becomes higher than the predetermined value, and as a result, The viscosity of the ER raw fluid F) increases, and the pressure generated in the ER raw fluid F) increases due to the action of the blade (6), and the clutch (4)
As the engagement force increases, the torque transmission to the rear wheel (RW) increases, and the distribution of torque transmitted to the front and rear wheels (FW) (RW) approaches 1:1 (this makes it easier to drive on rough roads). This improves the running performance of the vehicle.

On the other hand, if the steering angle detected by the steering angle detector (s1) exceeds a predetermined angle due to a large turn of the steering wheel during low-speed driving, for example, the controller (7)
As a result, the voltage applied to the ER raw fluid F) becomes lower than a predetermined value, and as a result, the viscosity of the ER raw fluid F) decreases, and the ER fluid F) is generated by the action of the blade body (6). The pressure applied to the clutch (4) also decreases, and the engagement force of the clutch (4) decreases, resulting in a decrease in torque transmission to the rear wheel (RW). Even if a rotational difference occurs between the RW and RW, the multi-disc clutch (5) slips and absorbs the rotational difference, so a tight braking phenomenon does not occur.

In the above embodiment, the cylinder (4) is configured to rotate together with the input shaft (2), and
Although the blade body (6) is configured to rotate together with the output shaft (3), the cylinder (4) is configured to rotate integrally with the output shaft (3), and the +1iJ blade body is configured to rotate integrally with the output shaft (3). (6) may be configured to rotate together with the input shaft (2).

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention provides a cylinder with a piston inside either the input shaft or the output shaft, and also provides a cylinder between the input shaft and the output shaft that allows the movement of the piston to A multi-disc clutch connecting the two shafts is provided, and a working chamber of the piston in the cylinder is filled with a fluid whose viscosity changes in proportion to the magnitude of an electric field, and the cylinder is provided in the working chamber. A vane body is provided that rotates together with the shaft on the non-active side and generates pressure in the fluid in the working chamber to push the piston and connect the clubch, and a controller that controls the magnitude of the electric field applied to the fluid. By providing this, the viscosity of the fluid in the working chamber is controlled by the controller, and the characteristics of the transmission torque transmitted from the input shaft to the output shaft can be easily adjusted to characteristics suitable for various running conditions. It has come to be possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partially omitted sectional view showing an embodiment of the torque transmission joint according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an example of application of the torque transmission joint to an automobile, and Fig. 3 is a conventional FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing characteristics of a torque transmission joint. (2)... Input shaft (3)...
...Output shaft (4) ...Cylinder (40) ...Piston (5) ...Multi-plate clutch (6) ...Blade body roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A cylinder containing a piston is provided on either the input shaft or the output shaft, and a multi-plate clutch is provided between the input shaft and the output shaft to connect both shafts by the movement of the piston. and filling the working chamber of the piston in the cylinder with a fluid whose viscosity changes in proportion to the magnitude of the electric field, while co-rotating with the shaft on the side where the cylinder is not provided in the working chamber, A torque transmission joint characterized in that an impeller is provided in the fluid in the working chamber to generate pressure to push the piston and engage the clutch, and a controller is provided to control the magnitude of an electric field applied to the fluid. .